Although the Bravo could fit on a car top, I don't think anyone on this forum has ever done that for more than one desperation trip.

A couple things come into play. The boat is about 150 lbs (Likely more!) without the rudder and sail, and that's a tough thing to load onto the top of a car. Keep in mind it's all one piece.

Secondly, you're dealing with a furling sail, which means that there is no need to remove the sail from the mast to travel with it. But if you car top a 20 foot mast, you're going to risk damaging the sail.

I used to place the furled sail inside the sail bag and attach it to the trailer, but after a few trips, the sail bag was showing some wear. I now put the sail inside a 6" PVC tube, eliminating the pressure points of tying it down. If you car top the sail furled around the mast, you're talking about a nearly 20 foot mast being tied down no more than 4 feet apart. That's not the best thing to be doing.

Hobie advertises their Wave Classic as a car top-able sailboat, which you need to disassemble to do so. But again, there really aren't that many people who car top these boats.

Not saying it can't be done, but if you have the option of getting a cheap trailer, it's really worth looking into. Saves a lot of headaches, and get's you out using the boat a lot more!

As far as the tradeoffs. The Bravo is simpler to rig, but slower, and carries fewer people as it has half the weight capacity of the Wave. It's crazy low maintenance because there are so few parts. You'll never replace a trampoline, you only have one rudder and your shroud wires are solid bars. Each of these has pro's and con's.

The Wave would be my preference if purely sailing was your only variable. The Bravo is better if you want the furling sail (big benefit for some!), it works great if you usually go out alone, (although so does the Wave) and is probably the best boat on the market if you like the idea of rigging from the trailer in a matter of minutes.

Keep in mind that even though the Bravo is slow for a Catamaran, it's pretty quick for a small dinghy. I've (unofficially) raced with Lasers and kept pace, or even pulled ahead while moving in a straight line.

WOW! This is the first time I've used one of these forums and I never would have known how fast people reply. Thanks a lot! I think I have my decision on the Hobie Bravo, I think it will be better in the long (with less maintenance like you said) and the furling sail. Now the question is I need to find a cheap trailer, and A BOAT!

The absolute most basic and lightweight trailer that you can find. Whether it's a sea doo trailer, or a flatbed trailer, or a utility trailer. It doesn't matter. The Bravo is pretty tough, so you can modify just about anything to work. I had mine custom made, and it works great, but you don't need to go to that expense. When you find something, there will be all kinds of people on here to help you modify it as necessary. There are lots of different theories to accomplish the same thing. If you want pictures of mine, I'll try to take some over the next few days.

The nice thing about the Bravo is that you don't need a mast stand, and I designed mine so that I had 4 straps to hold the boat through the scupper holes. These each form continuous loops so that even if they loosen, the boat can't move, you'd need to have 4 failed straps to lose the boat.

I now travel with the sail in a 6" PVC tube, but that's optional too.

(EDIT: This picture was taken as I was learning how to install my new PVC tube. The black pipe at the back where the mast is resting is no longer necessary, I'll explain it all with better pictures later, if you need)

Hi!Just bought a bravo from the states and am wondering how you attached the sail bag or PVC pipe ( for now I would be using the sail bag) to the "T" pipe so that the mast actually stays there while travelling? Your help is greatly appreciated.

I myself just purchased one this season so I share your excitement. I live on the water so my trailer, so far, was just used to get to the nearest launch site down the road and now it rests on my shore between sails. Therefore I have little help to offer you on trailer setup except to say that the others are correct. With it's size and light weight, almost any trailer can be easily modified to suit it.

However, as a new Bravo owner, I thought I would share some things I quickly learned either here or on the water that might be helpful.

As I learned quickly and had pointed out here by helpful folk, tacking requires a slower rate of turn and some finesse. I was used to dingies and larger mono-hulls but a cat can't be thrown sharply into a turn or it brakes too fast and you lose your forward momentum. A bit embarrassing, until you get the technique down. It doesn't take long.

It requires very little wind but it also is a blast in some good wind. Don't be afraid to go out in a super light breeze if you want to relax. Playing with your weight helps just as much in light conditions as it does in faster winds. Keeping a slight lean to leeward, even when the wind isn't strong enough to tilt you too much, really seems to help.

Faster winds are a blast. This boat is very easy to sail but if you push it's limits you will be challenged as well.

What I learned this weekend is that it is a bit challenging in gusty conditions. Probably no more than a similar sized dinghy, but at 12 feet long it reacts quickly to sudden changes in the wind and it reacts equally quickly to minor adjustments in the tiller at high speed. After a couple of swims (part of the fun) I learned to use much more finesse in rudder adjustments at high speeds.

My advice in gusty wind conditions centers around perhaps my one and only critique of it's design. The main sheet likes to cleat itself a little too much for my tastes. The design is brilliant in it's simplicity and perfect for this boat but in gusty conditions when you want to be able to loosen the main quickly, I find it difficult to keep the line uncleated. I have to keep glancing at it as it really likes to work it's way up into the cleat when you think it is loose. A quick flick of the wrist will uncleat it, but when I am hiked out a good bit, I find the angles make it more difficult to do this reliably. Maybe I just need better technique, but I'd still prefer to keep it uncleated if I could.

That is a very minor critique though in an otherwise fabulous little boat. I think you made a great choice. For me, the fact it that it is ready for the water so quickly is it's most valuable asset. When I get home from work in the evening, I normally only have about an hour to 1.5 hours of wind left in the day before it calms to virtually nothing. It wouldn't be worth it if I had to spend too much of that window in rigging and prepping. However, when I can change my clothes and be out there on the water in about 10 minutes, it sure makes it a lot easier to say "let's go' than to be lazy.

Last edited by Murph_PEI on Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:15 am, edited 2 times in total.

Hi. I just picked up a Bravo but its in storage until I could modify a trailer to fit it and get a car with a hitch. When I bought the Bravo, it was moved on a pickup truck and tied down. It fit in the bed angled up against the cab. No racks or trailer. I wish I took a picture of it to show it was transported. Also, the bottom of the catamaran that touches the ground are about 44-45 inches apart.